Keene Baldridge-Heywood '23 Recruiting Profile

I recently was named All-American at a UCA cheer camp. I also won The STAC Sportsman Award  2 seasons in a row.

I started organized gymnastics when I was 18 months old.  I was flipping my body around from the day I was born, shocking the nurses and my parents when I turned myself over in my basinette that day.  I did my first gymnastics competition at 6. I routinely won beam and vault, and many state championships all the way through level seven.  Gymnastics was my life--the last two years I competed, I was traveling an hour and a half each way every day up to Syracuse, NY, where they had a better gymnastics studio.  I did this through seventh grade, when I decided that I would rather experience other sports, particularly team sports, than have to dedicate my entire life to gymnastics alone.  I couldn't do anything else in my life with all those hours in the gym, never play on a varsity team.  So I decided to stop gymnastics, but use the skills I had learned in gymnastics in diving and cheer, and I got to play my first team sport, lacrosse, where I routinely play the attack position and have been on the team every year.  I am the best at cheer, where I am often the middle flyer and also do the more complex tumbling maneuvers.  These skills draw heavily on my gymnastics background.  I feel the most myself when I am cheering, which brings together all the things that are most important to me:  love for the physical movement of dancing and stunting, working as part of a group that is completely dependent on being tuned in to each other to succeed, and the sheer joy of being out there in front of an audience and motivating others.

Now, unlike in an individually focused sport like gymnastics, I know that there is no "i" in "team"--I know that a team is made up of many different individuals with different skills and personalities whom all must do the best they can and work tirelessly for themselves, but even more importantly, for their team. I would like to be a part of a team where winning is a goal but where other aspects of the sport experience are valued, too--building strong relationships, having compassion for each other, and being able to genuinely enjoy what we're doing--all components, I think, that contribute to a winning team. I think my attitude going into practice every day sets me apart because even if on some level deep down I don't want to be there,  I want to make sure others do. Which in the end actually makes the hard days more enjoyable for me.  No matter what, I feel I have a responsibility to make things work between all of us on the team--I always am doing that as a part of my striving to excel myself.  Unlike many other athletes today, I am willing to do whatever is asked to me, to do anything to get the work done and give it my all each time no matter what I am feeling.  I feel that I have a high level of skills, emotional maturity, and ability to shine and to motivate others that will make me an invaluable asset to a collegiate team that needs someone who is their "rock."